Hi folks, an update on the progress (I really hate using that word in these circumstances) of my husbands cancer, hey, just worked it out - an update on the progress of my husband's fight against cancer.

To recap: John - 45 year old non-smoker, regular drinker - had a lump in tongue diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma in December 2002, the big op (flap from forearm) to remove and rebuild happened in January 2003, radiotherapy happened in March. A persistent leak from the neck was investigated in theatre in December 2003, this revealed that the jaw hadn't healed, so bone (grafted from hip) and a different method of joining the two parts was recommended, to take place in the middle of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to encourage healing. This never happened - tissue removed was cancerous. After being offered chemotherapy, we looked for a second opinion.

John was offered, here's a quaint term, 'salvage surgery'. Here's our understanding of what this entails: John is to have major operation on 1st March that does offer a chance of a cure, donor sites from the leg and hip will be used to replace what is removed from the mouth, chin, neck, tissue will be sent to the path lab during the course of the operation for immediate analysis, to help the surgeon assess what is cancerous. John understands that there is a less than 50% chance of the operation being successful, but is looking forward to it. Chemotherapy is only a palliative treatment and prolonging the current circumstances was not something that appealed. A second opinion has given John a chance.

So there you have it, just wanted to let you folks know what's going on. In John's case, a persistent leak (John has had this since surgery, it dried up during radiotherapy but started again soon after) was an indication of something sinister I do not want to freak anyone out that has such a leak, just to flag the fact that they can be something more than a bit of a plumbing problem. Apparently, leaks do sometimes occur following that type of surgery, and """do not indicate cancer""".

everything crossed for 1st March!

Jenbee,
What John is going through is virtually a mirror image of what I've been through,except both my flaps/transplants were both done from the arm and not the hip!
Does John think there's light at the end of the tunnel now? When I'd been out of the operation after about a week they told me results had shown I still had cancer,but this turn out to be a mistake on the pathologists behalf! I was even asked if I was H.I.V.+ at one stage???
I think John will have a better than 50% chance of clearing! But I'm only a patient!
Speak soon

Alan

alan,

crikey, who'd be a pathologist? everybody makes mistakes, but the repercussions when these guys mess up are huge!!

(krishan, it'd be good to be able to see the last post on a topic when replying, I'd like to be able to flick back to alan's post as I write this - is there a trick that I'm missing?)

alan - so pleased that you contribute, makes a real difference hearing from someone that is living proof that """It can be beaten""".